SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- New information on the controversial oil drilling practice, known as "fracking." State lawmakers are pushing for new regulations, including a tax on oil extraction.
There are billions of barrels of oil sitting underneath the Monterey shale.
Fracking involves making fractures beneath the earth's surface to draw out oil by injecting rocks with chemical-laced water and sand.
One regulation state lawmakers are proposing is to require oil companies to identify the chemicals they use in fracking.
"California is the only state in the union that does not have this kind of tax," said State Sen. Noreen Evans, (D) Santa Rosa. "Even Alaska and Texas have this sort of a tax. It's been something that I've been trying to get done for the last several years."
But some state lawmakers said it's not that easy since there's a lot to learn in order to draft regulations that make sense.
If the tax on oil extraction is passed, the money would be spent on higher education and state parks.
The oil industry opposes the tax, saying it's already heavily-taxed.
"Oil production is already heavily taxed," said Tupper Hull of Western States Petroleum. "Trust me. This is not a low-tax state. The state extracts its energy production through a variety of means other than a severance tax."
The oil industry also claims there's no known negative effects from fracking.
Fracking is opposed by environmentalists because of its possible harmful effects on things like drinking water and fish.
